Polls Show Bolsonaro, Lula Tied in Potential Brazil Runoff
The Spin
Pro-government narrative
Lula's third term delivered the lowest unemployment in Brazilian history and pulled record millions out of hunger and extreme poverty, and that record deserves top billing instead of endless attacks on the opposition. Flávio Bolsonaro sells himself as honest while carrying a history of salary-skimming schemes and an audio asking a banker for 61 million reais. Talk up the achievements, court the undecided middle and this race stops being close.
Government-critical narrative
No amount of government spin beats what voters feel at the supermarket checkout or on streets where walking with a cellphone is a risk. The undecideds tuning in late will judge by those daily realities, and rejection of Lula is what will settle this election, even for people who barely know Flávio Bolsonaro yet. Four more years of the same government will not make anybody's life better.
